Member-only story
THE SOCIALS
Why Wouldn’t You Want To Know the Truth About Your Readers?
Facebook, Twitter, sorry, X, Discord, or wherever you make noise
No, I don’t mean that your readers are Venusian shape-shifters, CIA agents, voyeurs, or illiterate snobs, even though some of them surely are. I mean why wouldn’t you want to know who took notice of whatever bit of nonsense you posted?
If your readers clap, click likes, smilies, stars, or whatever other silly thing the particular platform uses to indicate their feelings about your offering, you at least get some idea of the number of admirers, haters, and undecided people who saw what you typed, linked to, took from an AI, or plagiarized. You may even get to know their names, or whatever platform name they think is cool.
If they comment, even if it is bitterly scathing and hurtful, that probably isn’t entirely anonymous. “The Real Abraham Lincoln” likely is not really Honest Abe, but if you see that name frequently, you might get a sense that this Abe is, in fact, a person (or bot) who regularly takes notice of your stuff. Abe is what many platforms would call a “follower”.
I put that in quotes because although Abe and anyone or anything else you have noticed perusing your social media has likely been counted as a…
